Michael Showalter is an American comedian, actor, director, writer, and producer. He first achieved recognition as a cast member on MTV's The State, which aired from 1993 to 1995. He and David Wain created the Wet Hot American Summer franchise, with Showalter co-writing and starring in Wet Hot American Summer (2001), and the Netflix series. Showalter wrote and directed The Baxter (2005), in which he starred with Michelle Williams, Justin Theroux, and Elizabeth Banks. Both films featured many of his co-stars from The State, and so do several of his other projects. Showalter is also a co-creator, co-producer, actor, and writer for the TV series Search Party. He directed the 2017 film The Big Sick and the 2021 film The Eyes of Tammy Faye, both of which were critically acclaimed.
Christopher Ryan Hardwick is an American comedian, actor, television and podcast host, writer, and producer. He hosts Talking Dead, an hourlong aftershow on AMC affiliated with the network's zombie drama series The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead, as well as Talking with Chris Hardwick, a show in which Hardwick interviews prominent pop culture figures, and The Wall, a plinko-inspired gameshow on NBC, Hardwick created Nerdist Industries, operator of the Nerdist Podcast Network and home of his podcast The Nerdist Podcast, which later left the network and was renamed to ID10T with Chris Hardwick. His podcast has broadcast 1,000 episodes as of December 2019.
Peter Benedict Holmes is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and podcaster. Musings on spirituality and religion are frequent themes in his works.
Justin Willman is an American magician, comedian, producer, and television personality. He is the creator and star of Magic for Humans on Netflix. The third season of Magic for Humans was released on May 15, 2020. He has made regular appearances on The Tonight Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Conan. His debut comedy/magic special Sleight of Mouth premiered on Comedy Central in 2015. He hosts the shows Cupcake Wars, Halloween Wars,King of Cones on the Food Network, Disney's Win, Lose or Draw on Disney Channel, along with Baking Impossible and The Magic Prank Show with Justin Willman on Netflix.
Michael & Michael Have Issues is a cable television comedy series starring comedians and actors Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter, who created the series. Both comedians appeared together in several TV comedy series, including The State, and Stella. The show premiered on July 15, 2009, on Comedy Central. Showalter and Black confirmed on March 3, 2010, via their Twitter accounts that the show had been canceled.
Kent Haines is a stand-up comedian who has appeared on Season 4 of Comedy Central's Live at Gotham and the public radio program The Sound of Young America.
Jonah Ray Rodrigues is an American actor, comedian and writer from Los Angeles. He stars as Jonah Heston, one of the primary hosts of Mystery Science Theater 3000. He is a former host of The Nerdist Podcast and was the co-host of Comedy Central's The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail.
ID10T with Chris Hardwick is a weekly podcast "about what it really means to be a nerd" hosted by Chris Hardwick. From its launch in 2010 until 2018, Jonah Ray and Matt Mira were usual co-hosts, after which Hardwick hosted alone. As of January 30, 2023, the most recent episode was published on 22 March 2022; no announcement has been made as to whether more will follow.
Matthew Paul Mira is an American podcast host, stand-up comedian and television writer based in Los Angeles. He was a co-host of The Nerdist Podcast from 2010 to 2018.
Kumail Ali Nanjiani is a Pakistani-American stand-up comedian and actor. He is known for his role as Dinesh in the HBO comedy series Silicon Valley (2014–2019) and for co-writing and starring in the romantic comedy film The Big Sick (2017). For co-writing the latter with his wife, Emily V. Gordon, they were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. In 2018, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role in The Twilight Zone executive produced by Jordan Peele in 2019.
TripTank is an American adult animated sketch comedy television series which premiered April 2, 2014 on Comedy Central. The show is made up of various sketches, portrayed by multiple animation styles created by many different animators and writers. Although no direct correlation exists between the different stories, a continued theme of dark satire prevails throughout.
The Pete Holmes Show is an American late-night talk show starring comedian Pete Holmes. It aired Monday through Thursday at midnight on TBS, from October 28, 2013 until June 18, 2014. The show was atypical among late-night talk shows for having personal as opposed to topical monologues, more sketch comedy, and taking place within a half-hour format.
Nerdist Industries, LLC is part of the digital division of Legendary Entertainment. Nerdist Industries was founded as a sole podcast created by Chris Hardwick but later spread to include a network of podcasts, a premium content YouTube channel, a news division, and a television version of the original podcast produced by and aired on BBC America.
Animals is an American adult animated comedy television series created by Phil Matarese and Mike Luciano. The first two episodes were independently produced and presented at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2015. In May 2015, HBO picked the series up with a two-season order, which premiered on February 5, 2016. The series was renewed for a third season on May 19, 2017. Season 3 premiered on August 3, 2018. In October 2018, it was announced that HBO had canceled the series.
The Big Sick is a 2017 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Michael Showalter and written by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani. It stars Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Adeel Akhtar, and Anupam Kher. Gordon and Nanjiani wrote the film based on their relationship; it follows an interracial couple who must deal with cultural differences after Emily (Kazan) becomes ill.
Emily V. Gordon is an American writer, producer and podcast host. She co-wrote the 2017 romantic comedy film The Big Sick, based on her relationship with her husband and frequent collaborator, comic Kumail Nanjiani. Gordon and Nanjiani won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay for The Big Sick; they were also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, among many other nominations.
Samaria Johnson, better known as Sam Jay, is an American comedian and writer. She is best known as a writer for Saturday Night Live (2017–2020), her Netflix comedy special 3 in the Morning (2020), and as the co-creator and co-star of the HBO comedy series Pause with Sam Jay (2021–2022) and the Peacock comedy series Bust Down (2022).
Beth Stelling is an American stand-up comedian and writer. She has performed in the Netflix series The Standups and served as a writer for the HBO television series Crashing. Stelling has released two comedy albums, Sweet Beth and Simply the Beth, and two comedy specials, Girl Daddy and If You Didn't Want Me Then.
The Lovebirds is a 2020 American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Showalter from a screenplay by Aaron Abrams and Brendan Gall, and a story by Abrams, Gall, and Martin Gero. The film stars Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani, as well as Paul Sparks, Anna Camp, and Kyle Bornheimer, and follows a couple who go on the run after witnessing a murder.
